Friday, January 15, 2010

January 15th? Nooo it was JUST the 13th!

Okay so I can't win. I either am stressing to get a Daring Kitchen challenge done at the last minute, or I get it done way early and then something happens where I can't get to my lil blog to post on the damn reveal date. WTF?

The January 2010 Daring Cooks' challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppylicious and she chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day.

Huge apologies to Cuppy - I feel as if I have failed our host(s) miserably when I'm late to get a post up.. this wasn't intentional!

And now I am seriously pressed for time - but the good news is, there was no disaster this month, so I really don't have a long post full of expletives and "whoa is me" whining. ;)

I made Chicken Satay using Cuppy's longer version marinade and it didn't even look remotely appetizing as I was transferring my chicken strips (breasts sliced into strips) from the bag of marinade to the broiling pan (grill was under 2 feet of snow..) all yellow and stuff. But I kept an open mind, Lord knows I've been happily surprised often in the past with these Daring Cooks challenges!

I had made my peanut sauce earlier due to time constraints and was warming it up again, while the chicken was under the broiler, when it separated. I had a small pan of peanut solid and peanut oil. Ewww. I was very dismayed over it, but thanks to my experience of making buttercream 59 gajillion times, I decided not to panic and to just get out my trusty balloon whisk and start whisking. Luckily it all came together again - only now it was almost like peanut fudge, which isn't a bad thing - just something I wouldn't normally pair with chicken. ;) Thanks to the amazing support we receive on the private forums of the Daring Kitchen, my question of why it separated was answered by Robert of An Alaskan Cook's Exploration of Food and Technique - and he thought that I had too much heat going on. And he was most likely right, I did have the heat up pretty high now that I think of it. Stupid on my part.

Again, I persevered and continued on with dinner, making a batch of Basmati rice to go with. Once it was all done, yeah it still didn't look that great. My chicken was even more yellow and my sauce was no longer sauce-y. At this point, I could have binned it all and declared it a disaster, but I was HUNGRY dammit.

So I plated, called Hubbs to the kitchen and got a giggle from the expression on his face. He was not amused. He must have been hungry too. hehehe I decided to take my dinner into my office so I could watch a movie (and mainly because I wasn't in the mood to hear him bitch about how awful the food was).

Surprisingly.. this dinner was OUT OF THIS WORLD. I cannot express how much I LURVED it! Suffice to say that it's been well over a week since I've made Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce and a day hasn't gone by that I haven't craved it. Unfortunately, Hubbs wasn't as impressed (most likely because he turns his nose up at any form of chicken. He'll eat it but not happily.) and that's the only reason I haven't cooked this dinner several times since my first taste. But my cravings will win soon - they ALWAYS do - and he'll just have to get over it. ;)

I always thank our hosts at the end of my posts, but this time I really need to lay on the lurve. Cuppy jumped in when, at the last minute, our slated January host couldn't do it. Cuppy had NO TIME and yet she came up with a well written recipe and plan for all diets. This was a quick challenge, that was most gratefully received after the busy and hectic holidays and I now have a new favorite quick meal to throw together after a stressful day at work. And yes, this recipe has been "westernized" and is not an authentic Thai recipe, but it's delicious regardless. I seriously cannot wait to make it again! Thanks so much, Cuppy!! :)

Wonderful that with all the 'problems' you LOVED it and maybe some other meat might do your BF you can easily do both at once. "Nice" photos and great that you have found a new recipe for your rotation. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.

It was a very satisfying feeling to get to play hero this one time. ;) I think in the future, though, I might sign up and give myself a couple of months to work a recipe. There's just so much that we could have done with this recipe if you and I had more back-and-forth time to discuss it. I'm still pleased with the overall results; something everyone can try or adjust to suit their needs, while still working on marinating.

Thank you for allowing me to host this month's challenge. I've had a blast the last couple of days looking at all this food porn! :)

Peanut fudge sauce for the satay...mmmm....and it was an excellent satay! Cuppy gets a GOLD star.What does hubby know anyway?BTW I've nominated you for an award...it'll be up shortly on my blog. Thanks for brightening my day!

In any event, your satay (I keep wanting to call it 'satay, sashay, satay - work it pork/chicken,whatever!) looks delish, and your photo is awesome! Glad you liked it, but hubs doesn't like chicken? That's like almost weird..you know? :P *hugs and smoochies*

I LOVED the challenge....it was the first daring cooks challenge I could make. Really shouldn't be saying this to the boss but it was great to have a common challenge but with some flexibility...worked a treat!!!!!